Multiple bills tied to Democrats’ focus on gun control made their way to the state Capitol this week, with the first hearing on what is expected to be at least a half-dozen measures this year.

In a tight budget year, the bill will be competing with other Democratic priorities for limited dollars to pay for new programs.

Senate Bill 3 would allow the Colorado Bureau of Investigation to investigate illegal firearms activity, including failed background checks, illegal firearm transfers, and gun shops and other sellers that sell ammunition magazines that exceed the 2013 law that limits them to 15 rounds. 

The bill carries a general fund cost to the state of just under $1.7 million.

The amount of discretionary money available for all new bills in the 2024 session is about $15 million, according to Senate President Steve Fenberg.

Witnesses who testified during a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing this week pointed out that most of those potential crimes are misdemeanors and questioned whether the spending is a good use of state money.

Sen. Tom Sullivan, D-Centennial, told the committee Monday the package of gun laws passed in 2013, which included the magazine limitations and background check measures, have not been evaluated to see if they have been effective.

Sullivan testified on some of those 2013 measures. It was less than a year after his son, Alex, was murdered, along with 11 others, at the Aurora Theater in July 2012. 

After he was elected to the House in 2019, Sullivan said he began looking at the background checks and the denials, and asked whether anyone was being prosecuted for attempting to buy firearms when they were not legally allowed to. In 2013, there were 396,955 Instachecks, with more than 7,000 denials. 

Over the next five years, the number of denials ranged from 7,000 to 8,000, Sullivan said. The reasons for denials included felony convictions, misdemeanor domestic violence convictions, or protection orders, for example. 

Over the first five years of the law, 76 were investigated with 11 convictions, Sullivan said. More than half of the denials were due to clerical errors. 

Sullivan said he learned district attorneys were not getting the denial cases from law enforcement because it was not a priority nor did the law enforcement agencies have the resources for it.

“We still aren’t following through on prosecutions,” Sullivan said.

There were 88 in the last five years on more than 30,000 denials, he said, with only one from Denver. 

The latest Senate bill would provide the resources to Colorado Bureau of Investigation, including paying for personnel, to do those investigations, he said.

It would create an “Illegal Firearms Unit” within CBI, according to a state official.

Sen. Kevin Van Winkle, R-Highlands Ranch, asked: Why not give the district attorneys the resources instead of creating a new state team?

District attorneys responded they don’t have the people to do that work, Sullivan said. 

The four-hour hearing drew dozens of witnesses.

Speaking against it was Sheriff Joe Roybal of El Paso County, who said the bill is a solution in search of a problem. Roybal said he asked his staff if they could to a better job if CBI took jurisdiction over firearms’ crimes and the answer was a resounding “no.”

Looking over the cases in his office, Roybal said he could not find one in the last two years that was not investigated in a reasonable timeframe.

Roybal also pointed out that the bill would grant jurisdiction to CBI without his knowledge, and said the state constitution does not allow CBI to do that. He admitted that CBI and the Attorney General could not prosecute those potential crimes and that would fall to the local district attorney. 

The agency largely operates “by request,” meaning that CBI engages in investigations with law enforcement at the request of those agencies. 

The agency wants to establish a tipline, although that isn’t mentioned in the bill. That information could allow CBI to vet investigations, and that could lead to cooperation between CBI and the local law enforcement agency on that investigation, supporters said. 

CBI Executive Director Chris Schaefer told the committee his agency has the expertise to do those investigations and that those crimes sometimes cross jurisdictional boundaries.

His agency will continue to work with law enforcement and district attorneys upfront before doing anything, Schaefer said. 

Schaefer also addressed an amendment to the bill that was later added to address the jurisdiction concerns raised by law enforcement officials. The amendment affirms that the CBI would not launch investigations without the consent of local law enforcement and ensures communication and cooperation with those agencies and district attorneys.

That amendment was sought by the Colorado Association of Chiefs of Police, the Colorado District Attorneys’ Council and the County Sheriffs of Colorado association. 

The National Shooting Sports Foundation, which usually opposes Democratic-backed gun bills, took the unusual step of backing the bill, stating the solution to gun crime is to dedicate appropriate resources to enforcement, rather than in creating new laws, according to the group’s Nephi Cole.

“The bill targets the illicit trade of firearms, our members are comfortable with this, because frankly, that’s not us,” Cole said.

Lawful retailers are not the problem, he added.

According to the Department of Justice, 90% of firearms used in crimes are made through straw purchases, illicit underground markets and theft. 

“Criminals don’t buy guns at retail,” Cole said. 

“If we want to make a difference in violent firearms crimes … we need to address where these crime guns come from,” and not through bans on law-abiding people and businesses, he told the committee. 

Edward Schoenheit of El Paso County also testified against the measure, saying the bill is nothing more than a political agenda to restrict Second Amendment freedoms, increase taxpayer costs, harass lawful firearms owners and create bureaucratic state laws and agencies.

“It turns the CBI into a state private gun police force,” one that will run amok with authority, he said. 

As for the issue of “high capacity” magazines, also part of the 2013 package of gun laws, Eileen McCarron of Colorado Ceasefire said the law is not being enforced.

She presented the committee with a list of stores visited by Colorado Ceasefire members in September and October last year. Of the 32 stores, 12 displayed high capacity magazines or advised the visitor on how to get one and bypass the law, she claimed. One store in Colorado Springs told the visitors the El Paso County sheriff does not enforce the high capacity magazine law and offered to send one to a relative in another state who could then send it back to Colorado, she added. 

The bill was amended to address the collaboration concerns and won a party-line 3-2 vote from the committee. It now goes to the Senate Appropriations Committee. 

The next gun bill to surface is House Bill 1174, sponsored by House Majority Leader Monica Duran, D-Wheat Ridge and Rep. Marc Snyder, D-Manitou Springs.

Current law requires only that a person demonstrate competency with a firearm in order to obtain a concealed carry weapons permit, which could be done with a firearms instructor. 

The measure would put into place standardized training to obtain a concealed carry weapons permit. Beginning July 1, 2025, the bill requires concealed handgun training classes to be held in person and include instruction on: 

• Knowledge and safe handling of firearms and ammunition

• Safe storage of firearms and child safety

• Safe firearms shooting fundamentals

• Federal and state laws pertaining to the lawful purchase, ownership, transportation, use, and possession of firearms

• State law pertaining to the use of deadly force for self-defense 

• Techniques for avoiding a criminal attack and how to manage a violent confrontation, including conflict resolution and judgmental use of lethal force

The training also requires a passing score on a written concealed handgun competency exam and in a live-fire exercise, with at least eight hours of instruction, including the live-fire exercise and written exam.

The bill also requires a refresher class to renew the permit.

Duran has said she has been working on this issue for several years. The bill has been assigned to the House Judiciary Committee and is scheduled for its first hearing on Feb. 13.

Finally, today Democratic lawmakers rolled out Senate Bill 131, which would prohibit bringing firearms into “sensitive” public spaces. Sponsored by Sens. Sonya Jaquez Lewis, D-Longmont and Chris Kolker, D-Littleton, the measure applies to places where children “and other members of the public” congregate and where the state has the authority to regulate the carrying of firearms.

Currently, the state regulates the carrying of firearms in certain government buildings, schools, and public transportation facilities. SB 131 would add significantly to that list, to include:

• public parks and playgrounds

• recreation facilities and community centers that provides services to the community and is open to the public or managed by a local government; 

• property open to the public while a public gathering or special event is taking place, such as a demonstration, march, rally, vigil, protest or picket line or other public assembly with federal, state or local permits

• public and private hospitals, nursing homes, clinics, medical offices, urgent care facilities

• mental health or facilities that treat substance abuse

• banks or other “depository institutions”

• stadiums, whether for professional, collegiate, high school, amateur or student sporting events

• amusement parks, aquariums, carnivals, circus, museum, water parks or zoos,

• liquor stores and marijuana hospitality businesses

• courthouses

• any building owned, leased or operated by the state or local government, including where public meetings are held (with an exception for “legislative meetings”)

• jails or juvenile detention facilities

• public libraries

• shelters operated by the state, local government or charities; including those that house victims of domestic violence or children

• day cares, preschools, campuses or public or private colleges or universities, including their labs, research facilities, artistic venues and athletic fields

The bill is assigned to the Senate Judiciary Committee and does not yet have a hearing date.